Gold Coast Jazz Society Band & Friends

Honoring the Great Ladies of Jazz

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

7:45pm

Gold Coast Jazz Society Band Formed in 1994 by past artistic director of the Gold Coast Jazz Society, the late Lee Amlie, and Simon Salz, the band is now led by Martin Hand. Band members are South Florida resident musicians, many with international reputations and credits, who share in their desire to perform and thereby preserve America’s musical heritage of jazz. The band has performed each year as a part of the Society’s jazz concert series and for audiences in Sarasota, West Palm Beach and Miami, with such jazz greats as Dick Hyman, Howard Alden, Frank Vignola, Bucky Pizzarelli, Shelly Berg, Richie Cole and Jiggs Whigham. They have performed at the Kravis Center, The Amaturo Theater at the Broward Performing Arts Center, the Bonnet House JazzFest, the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society’s and annually at the SunTrust Sunday Jazz Brunch in Fort Lauderdale. The group also performs numerous education concerts in regional schools, libraries and museums for the Gold Coast Jazz Society.

Martin Hand, Music Director – Gold Coast Jazz Society Band Born in England in the late 50's, Martin’s early musical influences were the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds and many skiffle artists of the time. In 1967 he immigrated to the United States where he exposed to "Motown" and the emerging rock scene. Following high school, he attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA. Martin has performed numerous musical luminaries including Dizzy Gillespie, Warren Vaché, Harry Allen, Dave Valentin, Peter Nero, Nell Carter, Eddie Harris, Henry Mancini, Darius Rucker, Bernadette Peters, Andrea McCardle, Trini Lopez, Burt Bacharach, Barbara McNair, Julie Budd, Blackstone, Jack Jones, Al Martino, The Lettermen, The Fifth Dimension, Eartha Kit, Destino, Vic Damone, Dinah Shore, Maureen McGovern, Melissa Manchester, Maria Osmond, Monica Mancini, Patti Austin, Robert Klein, Michael Feinstein, Ann Hampton Calloway, Arturo Sandoval, David Benoit, Jeff Kashua, The Supremes, The Platters, Sam and Dave, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Rupert Holmes, Roy Clark, Tommy Tune, Joel Gray, Joe Piscopo, Tommy Mitchell and Doc Severinson. He has performed in many shows and musicals and his orchestral credits include appearance with the New World Symphony, the Symphonic Pops of Boca Raton, the Palm Beach Pops, the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, the Naples Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Pops, the Peter Graves Orchestra and the Sunshine Pops.